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Zac just sat on the couch, staring at me, then at Elizabeth and Marie, and then at me, and then back at Elizabeth and Marie. Back and forth, back and forth.
“Hi
guys,” I said through clenched teeth. “What are you doing here?” They were
still staring at Zac. Just then Aunt Kate came in the room.
“Jessica?”
she asked looking around. “Zachary?” Uh-oh, she called him Zachary, not good.
And to make things worse, Avery and Mackenzie started to wake up in the chair
in the corner. They are not very pleasant when they first wake up. Aunt Kate
was staring back and forth at me and Zac. She didn’t look too happy.
“Um,
guys,” I said to my friends, “let’s step outside.” They were still too shocked
to respond. I pushed them out the door and shut it behind me. When we got
outside, I put my hands on my hips and stared at them.
“What
were you guys thinking, coming over here at 8:30 in the morning!” They looked
down sheepishly. I sighed.
“I’m
sorry you guys, but my life is really hectic right now.”
“We’re
sorry too,” Elizabeth began.
“But
we just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Marie finished.
“I’m
fine, but overwhelmed.”
“Why
didn’t you tell us your brothers were going to be here today?” Marie asked
excitedly. Dang. I knew we had to get to this sooner or later, but I had just
hoped it would be later. Much later.
“I
got knocked out in the middle of a restaurant,” I said, “Hmmm…. I wonder why I
didn’t think to call you and say ‘Come over you guys! My famous brothers are
going to come over and I want you to bombard them after they toured around the
world for three months!’” I said sarcastically. The front door opened and
Mackenzie’s small head peeked out.
“Dessica,”
he said in a groggy voice. “Mommy and Aunt Kate said ya hafta come eat
breakfast now,” he said.
“Okay
Mackie,” I said. I turned to my friends.
“Bye,”
I said in a not-too-nice voice. “I’ll see you later.” I scooped up Mackie,
tickling him and slammed the door behind me.
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“Jessica?” Aunt Kate called from the kitchen, “Will you come in here?” Ike, Tay, Zac, Avery, Mackie, Zoë, and my mom and dad had left earlier that day. But I had noticed that my mom and my aunt had a very lengthy, private conversation in the kitchen before they left. I wonder if it had had anything to do with me and I wondered if what my aunt wanted to tell me had anything to do with it. I walked in the kitchen and hopped on the counter.
“Yeah,”
I said, trying to sound as laid-back as possible. “What’s up?” She looked at
me, and I could tell by the look in her eyes it wasn’t good. I swallowed and waited for the blow.
“Your
mom and I talked today before they left. Now, this wasn’t easy for us, but we
decided that, that you should go home.” She stared at me, waiting for my
reaction.
“What?!?
You decided for me? You can’t just decide things like this for
me! I have to make my own decisions and-,”
“No,”
she said firmly. “You’ve lived here long enough. You’ve gotten over yourself. I
know your reasons for leaving, and they are valid. But you’ve been here for
three years, and that’s plenty, more then plenty, of time for you to have
gotten over that! Your family has missed you, believe it or not, these past
three years. You don’t deserve to be taking this away from them.”
“Taking
what away?!?!?!? Myself?? I didn’t want to be there and they knew it. They know
I’m not ready for this.” Everything was quiet for a minute as we contemplated
the situation.
“It
wasn’t Mom’s idea, was it?” I asked. I stared into her brown eyes. People have
always told me that if I was mad enough, I could give a death glare. I had been
told the old saying, ‘If looks could kill…’ many times. Finally, quietly, she
answered me.
“Your
whole family thought about this and they decided this is what they want.” I
stared back at her some more. Someone else had once told me I had freaky eyes.
“The
whole family? I doubt that.”
“The
whole family, excluding Zoë.” I stared at her, a cold, hard stare that came
from the heart, right into her nervous eyes.
“When
do I leave?”
“Day
after tomorrow.” That was the last straw. My mouth started pouring words. The
same words that I had used that day three years ago. Then I stopped abruptly.
What was the date?
“What’s
the date?” I asked quickly. Aunt Kate looked confused, but she told me.
“September
23rd.” I ran out of the
room. The 23rd, the 23rd. That was the day I left.
December 23rd. The words pounded in my ears. September 23rd,
September 23rd, September 23rd. I flopped down on my
bed. Then I remembered something about the day before. About Elizabeth and
Marie. Marie’s middle name was Anna.